Clockwork Powers
by dogestiel
Summary: In a world where superheroes are celebrities, you have to be born with a gift to become someone. A non-powered Tessa Gray's dream is to attend the Institute- a college with the best Powered School in the nation. However, since she couldn't get into the Powered section, she majors in English. But what happens when Tessa's put in a Powered dorm- housing only students with powers?
1. A New School, A New Dorm, A New Problem

_**A/N: Hey guys! This idea just came to me, and I figured I had to write it! PLEASE tell me what you think in the reviews. Or any suggestions. Or anything at all! I'm all ears! this wasn't my best writing, so I'll probably come back and edit the chapter a little bit later: keeping the same gist, but maybe adding or removing certain words.**_

_**again, please, please, please review, favorite, follow or anything! Love you lot- Dogestiel**_

_**premise: **Tessa Gray, a normal human with no powers, has always wanted to be like the celebrity superheroes she sees flying around. However, due to her lack of powers, the closest Tessa can come to superheroes is going to the college that specializes in them... Only she's an English major, and won't be able to go to powered classes. However, suddenly she's put in a Powered dorm, housing only students who have special abilities! Not knowing why or how she's put there, Tessa has to figure out what's going on, and who to trust._

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Standing before Tessa was the school of her dreams, the school anyone who was going to be anyone had to attend, the school where you could master your extraordinary craft, and use it to help humanity as a whole. Not only was the school absolutely brilliant and one of the best in the nation, but Tessa was going to be attending it for the next four years.

The golden plaquer outside of her future dorm boasted the household name of "Institute"- the school for the brightest of stars. The school where you could become a superhero.

Anyone would have been thrilled to attend such a prestigious school, but Tessa felt slightly sick at the prospect. The problem wasn't that the school had the best Superhero program you could hope for- the problem was that Tessa wouldn't be attending that program. While many other future hero's would be perfecting their telekinesis or their laser eyes, Tessa would be in an ordinary classroom, learning about novel writing. For, despite how hard she had always wanted one, Tessa had never been graced with a special ability, and since she didn't have one, that meant the closest she could get to the ever-evasive Institute School of Powers, was the building next to it, Institute School of Word, for English majors.

Although Tessa adored books with every fiber of her being, she couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy as she saw a black haired boy make his luggage float beside him while he entered the co-ed dorm. Picking up her own- the normal way- she headed in after the boy, wanting to make sure she checked in and got a good bed before they were all taken. Pushing the wooden door open with her foot since she had no free hands to do it for her, Tessa regained her balance and took a step inside. Sucking in a breath, she looked around in awe. The interior of the building was made up of hardwood floors- decorated with dark maroon rugs- and, from what Tessa could tell, Mahogany walls. When she had enrolled here, Tessa had known it was going to be a rather luxurious school, but she wasn't expecting _this_.

Suddenly she realized she had lost sight of the black-haired boy, so, placing down her luggage, she took out her dorm instructions.

"After you open the front door, head down the main hallway and look to your right. There should be an office door with a silver plaque on it. Open that door and sign in your name, or, if the head of housing is there, ask for help," She read the instructions out loud to herself. They seemed simple enough, so, stuffing the paper back into her pocket and picking up her luggage once more, Tessa walked down the hallway and turned to her right at the end.

Sure enough, there was the office door with the silver plaquer, same as the instructions had said. Nudging the door open with her shoulder, since she didn't want to put her luggage down again, Tessa poked her head inside and was immediately overwhelmed with the scent of Manila folders and coffee. Coughing slightly, she stepped inside and looked for the place to sign in. There were bins of long forgotten papers everywhere, and enough file cabinets for a small business. On the big desk at the center of it all, there was a binder with a tiny card next to it that read, "Sign in." Shrugging slightly, Tessa walked over to the sign in sheet, and placed her luggage down once more- she'd lost count of how many times she'd done that. Remembering the black haired boy again, her spurt of jealousy was rekindled for a moment as she thought how easy it would be to just use telekinesis on the darn luggage. Grabbing the pen on the table, she quickly scribbled her signature next to where her name was on the sign in sheet, and looked next to it to see what her room assignment was. In bold letters, the sheet listed, "**Room 5, Tessa G, Jessamine L.**"

Hoping with all her might that her roommate would be a nice person, Tessa looked at the map hanging on the wall of the Head of House's office. According to the blueprint-like layout of the map, room five was on the second floor, right next to the girls' bathroom. Picking her luggage up again for the umpteenth time with a slight exhale of breath, Tessa made her way out of the office, and stopped in front of what would be her greatest enemy: the stairs. Now, Tessa could walk up stairs just fine, but considering she was carrying luggage twice the size of her person, the stairs might as well have been Mount Kilimanjaro. Bracing herself for the treacherous climb, Tessa was about to climb up the stairs when someone called out, "You look like you could use some help there, mind if I assist?"

Turning to see who had offered to help with a smile on her face, Tessa was slightly taken aback when she saw who was standing behind her, with a hand outstretched, waiting to help with her luggage. He was... Gorgeous, in a way. Definitely not in a traditional way, like her brother, Nate was. This man was beautiful in a mystic, almost fantasy-like manner. His silver hair shone slightly, and his eyes of the same color had an openness about them that immediately made Tessa feel safe around him.

"I wouldn't mind at all. I'd actually be very thankful if you did help me- I was worried I'd trip and fall down the stairs, most likely ending my college career before it'd begun," She said, smiling awkwardly, still carrying the luggage.

Plucking one of her bags out of her hands as though it were nothing more than a paperweight, the silver-haired boy grinned at her, and gestured up the stairs, "After you." Doing an odd sort of curtsy to play along with his gentlemanly attitude, Tessa followed his suggestion and went up the stairs- thankfully with no incident, due to the help she had gotten from... From...

"What was your name?" Tessa asked, suddenly feeling very guilty for having someone who she didn't even know the name of help her with her luggage.

"James," He said as they arrived at the top of the stairs. "But everyone calls me Jem." Tessa saw room five from where they were standing, but she knew it would be rude to leave him on the middle of a conversation, and besides, he was being quite friendly to her.

"I'm Theresa, but I'd much rather be called Tessa," She responded, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. "So what are you majoring in?"

Jem looked taken aback by this, and gave her an almost surprised look. "We're in a Powered dorm," He quirked an eyebrow at her, seeming slightly confused. "So just like you, I'm majoring in Powers."

Eyes opening wide at this, Tessa hurriedly tried to explain, "I'm not really majoring in- I mean, I don't have- I mean... Wait, Powered dorm?"

"For the students with powers..." He said this gently, but Tessa felt as though he wasn't exactly sure if she was hearing him right. "You know, they keep people with powers in one set of dorms, people without any in the other?"

Tessa blinked. "I, uh, um... Well that was my phone... Ringing. Better go!" She quickly grabbed her suitcase from his hands and hurried away, not bothering to stop even though he called after her. Slamming the door to Room Five shut behind her, Tessa sunk down onto the floor.

_I'm in a Powered dorm? But... I don't have any powers!_


	2. The Roomate

**A/N: Okay, I'm going to be real with you guys here: this isn't my best writing. Not even close. But this fanfiction is more of a side fan fiction, so I'm not investing as much time into it as I am with Clocking in the Hours. However, if this gets positive reviews, I'll probably put in some more time on this one, too. For this chapter, though, my writing is not its best for I rushed in order to finally get a second chapter out there.**

**anywho~ enjoy!**

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**_Jillessa Heronstairs: Thank you so much for your glowing review! I'm glad you think I'm creative, because it's so boring to be anything otherwise! And don't worry, your fics are just as creative as mine (if not more so)!_**

**_SHIP IT SO HARD IT HURTS: Here's the update now! Thank you for your awesome review! Tbh, OOCness bothers me, which is why it's so important to keep all of the characters I write for true to how the author initially wrote them!_**

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"Do you normally collapse onto the floor?" Surprised, as she had been fairly certain she was the only one in her room- Tessa looked up to see who had spoken. Inhaling slightly, Tessa felt a pang of jealousy as she looked upon the young woman standing in front of her, who seemed expectant. Blonde, with large brown eyes and Cupid's bow lips, this girl was the definition of traditional beauty.

"Uh, no, not usually," Tessa said, hurriedly making an effort to stand up. Taller than most girls her age, she was rather unsurprised to find that this girl was several inches shorter than herself. Sticking out her hand, she added, "I'm Tessa, by the way."

"Jessamine," The other girl said, and Tessa remembered that Jessamine had been assigned to be her roommate. "I'm taking your side of the closet, by the way."

Eyes widening, Tessa dropped her hand. "Taking my side of the... You can't be serious?" Something told Tessa that Jessamine was used to getting what she wanted, but, figuring everyone needed to grow up sooner or later, Tessa decided she wasn't going to let this girl boss her around. Even if Tessa didn't care much for clothes, and even if she did only have around five different outfits, it still wasn't in Jessamine's rights to steal away what little property she was allotted in her dorm.

Looking quite shocked indeed, Jessamine asked, with a hint of suspicion, "Y-You don't think that's a wonderful idea?"

Tessa blinked. "Of course not! It is my closet, after all." She couldn't help but give this girl an incredulous look for suggesting something so preposterous.

"Brilliant," Exclaimed Jessamine, not sounding ecstatic at all. "Just what I need, a roommate who's immune to Charming." Pursing her lips, her eyes flicked up and down Tessa, as though summing her up, in a way that made Tessa shift uncomfortably.

"I don't really know what you mean-" She began, but Jessamine was quick to cut her off.

Stepping closer and peering questioningly at Tessa, Jessamine quirked an eyebrow. "Don't tell me you don't even know what you can do?" Tessa shook her head, which caused Jessamine to let out a sort of impatient sigh. "I'm a Charmer," stifling a smile, Tessa couldn't help but feel as though her roommate was rather the opposite of charming. "You really ought to know what that is- they teach it in even the most basic of Powered schools- but you don't really seem to know that much, do you?" Opening her mouth to protest, Tessa could barely make an annoyed exhale before Jessamine plunged on. "Anyways, since you don't, it means I can make people do whatever I tell them. Usually it's only the really strong Powered who can resist it- so, tell me, what's your secret? You don't look like much, but you obviously have to be something special."

Unsure of whether to be offended, thankful, or angry, Tessa just stood there, mouth open slightly, staring at Jessamine and wondering if she was actually serious. Shaking herself out of her confused daze, Tessa replied, "I'm not exactly sure I know what you mean..." She let the sentence trail off, hoping Jessamine would take the hint and fill her in.

Thankfully, she did. "I mean- what's your power?"

"I don't have any," Tessa was getting more and more anxious many the second. There must have been some terrible mistake. "Really! I'm just Tessa."

"Alright, 'Just Tessa'. If you're going to play the mysterious card, so be it, but don't act as though I wasn't ever friendly with you." Tessa wanted to protest that trying to steal someone's closet wasn't the most welcoming of gestures, but she instead decided to keep that bit of information to herself.

"Listen," Pleading desperately, Tessa wished this Jessamine girl wasn't so standoffish. "I honestly have no powers! Unless you count being able to read 3 novels in one day a superpower, I'm utterly useless."

Quirking an eyebrow, Jessamine seems to look Tessa over, as though sizing her up. "Maybe I'm just getting a cold and can't charm properly. That _would_ explain why you didn't immediately surrender your closet space... And you really don't look like anything special, but then, it's still a wonder why you're in a powered dorm." She narrowed her eyes. "And don't think this means I believe you, either. I'm simply just taking into consideration what you said."

Just then a resounding _ping_ echoed throughout the house, leaving Tessa's eardrum throbbing.

"Ugh... Meeting time," Jessamine sighed, looking bored. "We better get down there, I suppose."

"Meeting time?" Tessa asked, scolding herself for always being do curious.

Eyes flicking over Tessa, Jessamine responded, "I keep forgetting how dull you are. Meeting time is when we go down and chat with our dorm mates and whatnot. Quite boring, really. It comes right before dinner. Charlotte makes it mandatory for us to socialize."

"The Head of Housing?" _And I'm not dull, thank you._

Jessamine modded, "That's the one." Heading towards the door, she said, "Now, quit sitting there and get a move on! She hates when we're late."

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**please review follow and favorite! I promise to bump up the quality of my writing in later chapters! Pls review!**

**love you lots!**

**dogestiel**


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